When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. (Jn 20:1a, 2-8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122721.cfm
The Fourth Gospel, the one we call according to John, is anonymous. But the church has always wanted to attribute it to the apostle John. But there is an older tradition that says the “disciple whom Jesus loved” was Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. That would make sense of this passage when the “disciple whom Jesus loved” sees the cloth “that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.” He sees and believes because from first hand experience he knows what has happened. Today’s Christmas carol is A Belén Pastores (To Bethlehem Shepherds).
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist, December 27
